I have connected with some individuals in the community who have expressed interest in opening up workshops for students interested in computer programming and robotics. Yesterday, we rolled out our inaugural meeting with nine students from various families, schools, and of different ages. This was truly organic as we met in the home of one of the families that has been working to organize the initiative. Two gentlemen, Robin Walker (Caliber Services) and Arun Gupta (Java, Red Hat) have been instrumental with the development of the pursuit. Devoxx4kids USA began in CA, has moved to CO and a bit in OR, and now has moved to GA.
The event was organized through Devoxx4kids USA, a non-profit and 501(c)(3) registered organization. The goal is to get kids excited about technology with the hope that many of them will become producers of technology in future. We will conduct variety of hands-on workshops where children build computer games, program robots, build circuits, program microcontrollers etc. and have fun. We want them to experience and then explore technology.
We will offer a variety of workshops from Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Python, Minecraft modding, LEGO, Scratch and much more. These fun workshops are very entertaining, enriching, and inspirational for kids. Devoxx4kids South Atlanta is to share the story of the movement in this area.
The next workshop will investigate Scratch and target younger students. We will be looking forward to March for the next meeting and also plan to expand this initiative to encompass members of anyone in the community and use venues that would house around 50 people where they can bring their personal computers and work through the platforms to meet the objectives.
The story is archived at twubs.com/devoxx4kidsSATL and we are looking for more people to be a part of movement. Want to get involved? Consider joining in on the hashtag and we can chat through Twitter at #devoxx4kidsSATL, directly to me @jellerlearning, or send an email at eller.jeff@mail.fcboe.org. The vision is to expand to the community and find those interested to collaborate and share in their learning.